Corn harvester



July 26, 1932. J. A. MILLER 1,869,269

CORN HARVESTER Filed Jan. 3l, 1931 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 J. A. MILLER CORN HARVESTERl July 26, 1,932.

5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Jan. 3l, 1951 J. A. MILLER CORN HARVESTER Juy 26, 1932.

5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Jan. 3l, 1931 (XT/Comu;

July 26,v 1932. 1 MlLLER 1,869,269

' CORN HARVESTER Filed Jan. 3l, 1951 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented July 26, 1232 enlise smTES PATE-Nr;f-oiFFlca:*-

'JACOB A.:urinaria:0FAeration;cononiino'"ip`4 com: rinnvnsrn'n i i p Appl'catien. Ied January 31, 11.531.v .-SerialNo. 512,695.

This invent-ion relates to harvesting ma-v chines and particularly to machines for hare vesting corn and in which the ears are husked and the leaves stripped from the stalk, the 5r ears snapped off and the stalks discarded.

In ,Western States7 a great deal ofrelatively short corn is raised. Much of thiscorn grows` very close to the-ground and oftentimes it lies over on the ground and one of the prinf 10 cipal objects of my invention is to provide a corn harvesting machine with means whereby this corn which islying upon the ground may. be picked up, the stalk cut oil" and the stalkV `with its ears discharged to the husking rol-ls, N* snapping rolls, etc.

A further object in this connection-V isto provide means whereby the fingers with the cutting knife may be raised or lowered to, suit the conditions of any particular field oi corn7 and a further object is to provide a machine for this purpose which is veryrsim ple and is relatively cheap'tooperate.

A further object is to provide yhusking rollers and snapping rollers immediately above the husking rollers, thereby eliminatw ing extra elevators and` conveyors which' are otherwise necessary, and provide means. whereby many ears of corn are shocked before they get tothe snapping rollers. i

A further object is to providel a Vfeed ycarrier attachment which maybe readily applied to the harvester and whereby leaves andi` stalks may be saved and conveyedto awagon,

Other objects will appear in thecourse of',V

the following description. y s 'v My invention isillustrated intheV accom-- panying drawingswherein: ,i l y v Figurel is a top plan viewv of, a harves# ter constructed in accordance withv my inven` tion; *v p Figure v2 is a section on the line v2--2 of Figure 1; y vy Figure 3 is a fragmentaryfsectionfonlthe line 8 8 of Figure 1;

Figure e is a section on Figure 3;

Figure Figure 2,; 1 i y Figure 6 is a. fragmentary top'plan view oftheconstruction shown'in Figure 5 5*, )i

the line of.y

from the side opposite Figure 3;

lFigure is. afragmentary elevationdof.aiV

portion of Figure 7 moved.

with the `chain drivere Y i Figures 9 andlO are respectivelysectionatl'i caster wheels. From the main frame extends out the bracketsl 111 upon which is pivoteda frame supporting an upwardly 'and rearf wardly extending conveyor, thev frame being designated 15.4 f t The lower end of this framey carries Athe usual 4reciprocating knife-bar 16"andjis formed with'the' downwardly `extending fin-v Y gers 17with the upwardly` extending guards l 18.V These-fingers 17 V.are so formedthat' they i will move easily along .the ground or slightly above'the sameand will, liftup any fallen stalks and raise. these stalks in such position that'ithe-stalks `may -befcut off close to the. groundby the knife bar 16.,vk I

I donot. wish to be limited to any lar form of elevator mountedupon the frame'` 15, but I have shownffor this purpose V.the frame 15 as being Vformed' withadeck 18 `over which pass the opposed sprocket chains 19,

whichsweep-over theupper face of the deck, The `sprocket .chains 19 care@ mounted Y upon. sprocket'wheels 21 and 22;carried,respective;Y 1y by the shafts' 23 -andr2l-V The shaft 24is l the driving shaft of the*sprocketchainsu` Y Partcu- 'I thesesprocket chains carrying cross barsg20,g`

Extending parallelifto thel length of the is driven by mea-ns of a bandv 27-rom va' pul-4 frame l10 is av power operatedv driving sha-ft f,

25. This shaftisshown ascarryingonift ag f y pulley 26 which, as Iillustrated, in Figure 3, 5 is a .section on the-line 5.5 of

ley wheel driveny by thev engineA 28;' indicated@ in dotted lines in Figure 3.' :This engine may be, of any suit-able charactenand disposed in;

any desired place and, while have illustrated Vitgas driving the shaft25 directly through the pulley 26, I do not wish to be limited thereto as the engine might be connec'ted upito intermediateshafting. The forward endof this shaft 25 is connected by means of aV universal joint 27 toa shaft section 28 carried in suitable bearings upon the frame 15, this shaft section 28 carrying/.at its forward rend thecrank 29 whose wrist pin is operatively connected to the 'cutter barV by means of the link 30. Any other suitable mechanism may be used for this purpose, however.v f.

The universal joint 27 permits the "frame with the conveyor to be tilted intodifferent angular positions, that is, to permit the' fingers and the cutter barto be raised or Y lowered relative Vto the'ground and for Vthis purpose, as illustrated in Figure 3,1 provideV the' frame 15 with an arm 31 connected by means ofa link 32 to a lever 33 operating 'over an arcuate rack 34 and provided with a` hand grip operated bolt 35 coacting withk they notches and rack 34 to yholdthe lever in anyadjusted position. By this means, the lower andforward end of the conveyor frame 15 l maybe raised and lowered to adjust thedfinmeshing with afgear wheel37 on a shaft 38.

' longitudinally extending strippingr'olls, theV gersin proper relation tothe ground.

As shown'in Figure 3, the shaft 25 is provided at its rear end with aV gear wheel 36 This shaft carries upon it the ybeveled gear wheel 39 .meshing with the beveled gear swinging movement,-it is vobvious thatthe drive will be the :same-in all positions of this forwardconveyor or elevator. A The elevator deck 18 extends upward to a'point above and discharges onto asseries of rollsbeing `designat'ed'49. `The' rolls are disposed relatively close together asfisnsual with stripping rolls and are shown as 'provided with Voutwardly projecting pins or prongs 49a as usual.

' j The shafts-51,51@ 515, etc., ofthe strip-4 e'twheel '53"andthe gear wheel 52of this shaft meshes with the gear'wheel52rof the'nextad-I lping rollers arel mounted in suitable bearings 1n frame members`50 as shown in Figure 2 and atritsforward end, each shaft 51,51a,l

511),V 51e, carries a gear wheel 52.` The irst shaft 51 of the series'carries upon it a sprock;

This is shown jacent shaft 51. The next pair of shafts also carry the intermeshing gear wheels'52 and f one of these shafts carries a sprocket wheel 53a. The next two shafts areintergeared by the gears 52 but the shaft 51 of the first gear of the .next two carries upon it two sprocket v wheels .53h and 53e. Passing overv sprocket wheel .'53, then beneath 'the sprocketfwheel 53a 'and over andthen around vthe sprocket wheel 53b is aV sprocketchain 54, the lower 'flight ofthis chain extending beneath an idler vpulley 55 and this chain being driven from c the sprocket wheel 56 mounted upon the shafty 25 as shown in Figure 5. It will be seen that this sprocketchain which moves in the direction of therarrow, Figure 5 will give a counter-clockwise"movement to the sprocket wheel 53-'and a clockwise movement to the companion shaft, that it passesbeneath the sprocket wheel53f-i and thus gives a clockwise movement to this sprocket wheel with -a counterclockwise movement to the other shaft of this pair and that this sprocket chain willl give a counter-clockwise movement to. the sprocketywheel 53D and the corresponding shaft 51a and a' clockwise movement to Athe,

corresponding shaft of the pair' of shafts.v The shaft 51a also carries'upon it the sprocket Y wheel 53", as previously stated, overVV which'.

passes a sprocket chain 57 passingaround a sprocket wheel 58 on the shaft 51h, which shaft carries a sprocket wheel 53C. 'The shaft 5 1", of course, has a gear wheel 52meshing with the gear -wheel 52 on the next adjacent shaft 'of the pair. Over the sprocket wheel 53c passes a chain 59, the upper yflight of which extends downward and beneath asprocket l wheel 53d andthen over and around a sprocket wheel 53b and then down beneath the idlerwheel-60. By thus turning the three sprocket chains 54, 57 and 59, a proper rotational t movement is given to the pairs of stripping rolls so that the stripping rolls of each pair rotate toward each other and downward;

This is obvious'from Figures 5 and i6." The action of thesestripping rolls is to strip the leaves and in fsome instances the husks them-V selves fromthe corn while the stalks are pass- -ing longitudinally over the' stripping rolls 49. For the purpose of pulling the husks ofi the ears, I provide two transverselyextending to each other'by means of the intermeshing p1n1ons63'on the shaft ofthese husking rolls 61. Thecshaft of one of these husking rolls .hu'sking rolls'61 and 62 disposed rearward of vthe rear ends of the stripping rolls 49.1 These husking rolls are driven in'reverse directions 61 carries yupon it the sprocket `wheel 64 as,

shown in Figure 7. Over this sprocket wheel passes a lsprocket chain 65 which passes around the sprocket wheel 42 of shaft41, then-upward and over a sprocketchain tight-Y ener wheel 66, then downward and beneath'a f sprocket wheel 6.7 mounted on the framefof m the machine `andjthen Aupward and over the' sprocket wheel 64 as previously stated. Thus the shaft 41 drives the husking rollers 61 and 62. The belt tightener 66 is mounted upon a pivoted arm 68 urged upward by means of a spring 69 `or in any other suitable manner. The sprocket wheel 67 is mounted upon a shaft 70 which carries .upon it the lower snapping roll 71. Alsol mounted upon the shaft 7 0 is a gear` wheel 7 2 meshing withv the gear wheel 73 mounted upon the shaft of an upper snapping' roll 74. Thus these two snapping rolls are rotated in reverse directions. As the stalks move rearward, the stalks themselves will pass through or between the snapping rolls 71 and 74 and these rolls will act to snap the ears from the stalk and discharge the ears back on to the husking rolls 61 which,as they rotate, will tear the husks olf the ears of corn. VThese husking rolls will eventually discharge their ears of corn into an elevator 75 (see Figure y4) wherein there is mounted an upwardly ex-V tending elevator belt or `apron designated 7 6 and shown in Vdotted lines in Figure 4. rlhis belt is driven by a lower roller mounted upon A a shaft 77. `This shaft vcarries a sprocket wheel 78 over which passes a sprocket chain 7 9 trained over a sprocket wheel 8O mounted `upon a shaft 38. In other words, the drivdown or which lie close to the earth will be picked up and these stalks, together with the standing` stalks of short corn will be cut close to the ground and the stalks with the earsand leaves will pass upward over the deck 18, being carried upward by 1 the conveyor chains. Any suitable conveyor may be used, however, in place of the particular construc tion shown in Figure 2. The stalks will then drop downward upon the stripping rolls 49 which will tear the leaves from the stalks and in some cases act to partially husk the cars of corn. The stalks will then pass rearward and through the snapping rolls which will prevent the passage of the ears of corn but permit the passage of the stalks and the ears will be snapped off the stalks and become engaged by the husking rolls 61 and 62 which will act to strip the husks from the ears of corn and the ears of corn will be eventually discharged into the elevator 7 5y and the corn stalks will be discharged rearward of the ground, the leaves or other portions torn off by the huskingor stripping` rolls 49 will also drop down upon the ground.

It is often the/case that a farmer wishes, however, to save the stalks and the leaves torn therefrom for fodder, in'which case, I pro` vide means for preventing the discharge of theseelements on tothe ground and carrying them into a wagon trailing behind the harvester. To this end, I mount below the axle 11 the deck 81 supportedl upon a frame 82 disposed below the mainframe .10 and supported therefrom. Over this deck' which is arranged horizontally operates a conveyor designated generally 83 which may be of any suitable construction. This vpasses at its forward lend around sprocket wheels 84. After veyor extends upwardjover an upwardlyl in'- clined deck 85 andV extends overr sprocket wheels 86 and then extends downward Vand Jforward beneath a tightener roller 87 and then forward -to the roller 84. VVThe tightening roller 87 is mounted, upon an arm on the trame 82, the arm being urged downward by constitutes the conveyor 83, ofcourse, en f of these sprocket wheels is driven from the ymain driving shaft. I have illustrated .the

shaft of the sprocket wheel 84 as being thus driven.v This shaft 89 carries upon it a sprocket wheel engaged by a chain 90. This chain 90, as shown in Figure 3 extends upward and rearwardand over a sprocket wheel 91 carried upon a shaft 92 which shaftcan ries upon it a sprocket wheel 93, over which a sprocket chain 94 passes to a sprocket wheel 95 mounted upon a shaft 41. At the intersection ofthe deck 81 with the deck y85,'a transversely extending roller 96 is provided to bear upon the upper flight of the conveyor, this roller being mountedupon an arm 97 urgeddownward by a spring. Y

It will beobvious now that with this iconstruction, the leaves, stalks and other vparts, notv the ears, which are discharged from, the husking rollers and snappingV rolls are discharged onto the endless conveyor 83 and will be carried rearward andy discharged into a wagon, thus permitting any 'portion of the corn to be utilized.

It is to be understood, of course, .that the rollers 49 and 62 and 74 if desired aretobe formed with spirally extending ribsOa upon which projections or spikes, are formed;A

These helical ribs, therefore, `will act to. carry any material remaining upon the upper portions of the rolls 49 over toward and eject this material upon the rolls 61 and 62 while these ribs on the rolls 61 and 62 will carry the material toward the. elevator 7 5.` e l A I/Vhile under normal circumstances these helical ribs 50a willact to carry the material do not act perfectly for this purpose and under some circumstances', it may bei desirable to provide adjunctivevmeans for urg ing'the material on the rollers 49 toward the rear of the machine. For thi's'purpose I 75 leaving the rear end'of the deck 81, thelconf y' extraelevators and conveyors and further I have provided a convenient feed'saving'de- '.fprovide, as .illustrated in-Figures V8 and 9 Va Positive feeding mechanism comprising extending arms 104 pivoted to the frame 10.

The forward ends of all fthese rods 100 vare formed to provide Vdownwardly extending braces or connecting rods'105 connecting with cranks 106 on a shaft 107. This shaft is mounted in bearings and, of course, is disposed below the rolls and at its ends carries a sprocket wheel 108 which is engaged by a sprocket chain heretofore'described. It is obvious now thatas the shaft 10'? is rotated, the feeders 100 will be given an upward and rearward movement and then a downward and forward movement, thus acting intermittently to feed the material that is resting upon the top of the rolls 49 forward and givingit a positive feed toward the huskingv rolls 61. f

I have shown the forward elevator 19 as terminating at a point above the forward ends of the stripping rolls llt). This elevator 19 may terminate at the upper faces of the stripping rollers provided there is a deck or floor to carry the corn over the wheels and chains at the forward end of the stripping rolls. Thus, for instance, these sprocket wheels 9.2 might be disposed upon'the shaft l5 if desired, but care vmust be taken, under these circumstances, thatthe'corn docs not engage with and thus become entangled with the chains driving the stripping rolls.

In thepoperation of this device, it will be understood that 'the stripping rolls i9 are intended to take as many stalks and` leaves from the corn as possible and in short corn for which this machineis particularly intended, they will take most of tbL vstalks and leaves, leaving the ears of corn nearly'husked or entirely so. The rear rollers 6-'1 and 62 are only intended to husk the ears of corn missed by the frontrollers 49. p

It will be seen thatI have provided a corn harvesting machine in which the working parts are assembled to provide a gathering and cutting Vmechanism which will get very close to the ground and provide a snapping and husking mechanism which will eliminate vice. s 1 ,f

Byrreason of its simplicity, this machine may be easily keptfin proper working. order. While I have :illustrated a construction which I deem to'be'particularly effective, I donotwish tobe limited to this' as obviously many changes might be vrmade therein with'- out departing from the'spi'rit ofthe invention as'delined in the appended claims.Y Y i Iclaimz'-r I. 1. Ina harvesterV for short corn, a main wheeled frame, a plurality oflongitudinal stripping rolls mounted onthe frame, a cut# ter supporting frame mounted on said main frame in'advance of said stripping rollsand extending downward and forward, a reciprocatablefcutter mounted uponthe lower: end of the cutter supporting frame, vngers carried thereby and coacting with the cutter, an upwardly and rearwardly extending conveyor mounted on the 'f cutter supporting frame and discharginzoj` on to said stripping rolls, manually controlled means for raising or lowering the forward end of said cutter supporting frame, andmeans for driving said stripping rolls, said elevator and the cutter.

2. In aharvestervfor 'short corn,a ina-in wheeled frame, a plurality of. pairs of longitudinally extendingstripping rolls on the main frame, a cutter supporting frame, pive otally mounted adjacent its upper end on the mainframe, and extending downward and forward therefrom, a reciprocating cutter mounted upon theY cutterv supporting frame, fingers on the cutter supporting frame coacting with the cutter, a conveyor` mounted on the cutter supporting frame and discharging on to said stripping rolls,a pair of husking rolls extending at right angles to the stripping rolls and disposed rearward of the .stripping rolls and upon which the stripping rolls discharge, and a pair of snapping rolls disposed one above the other rearward of ybut adjacentV the last roll of the husking rolls, and means for driving the conveyor, reciprocating knife, the stripping rolls, the husking` rolls andthe snapping rolls.

Y 3. In a harvester for short corn, main wheeled frame, a pluralityA of pairs of longitudinally extending stripping rolls on the main frame, means for driving'the rolls of each pair in opposite directions, a cutter supporting frame pivotally mounted the main frame in advance of the stripping'rolls and normally extending downward andforward and having a plurality of lingers, a reciprol 'eating lcutter mounted upon the supporting frame beneathsaidl fingers, a conveyor mount' edupon the cutter supporting frame above the cutter,- the conveyor extending above the point of pivotal connection to the main frame and discharging on to the stripping rolls, a pair of huskingrolls disposed.v transversely of but adjacent to the rear en'dsrof the stripping rolls, means for rotating said-"husking rolls in opposite directions, the huskingroll's I being disposed on a level with the'rear ends of the stripping rolls, apair of snapping rolls disposed one above the other-,the lowermost snappinorroll Vbeing disposed approxi? mately on a level with the husking rolls, means for rotating said snapping rolls-in-opposite directions, and manually operable means for raising or lowering the forward end of the cutter supporting frame.

t. In a harvester for short corn, a main wheeled frame, a plurality of pairs of longitudinally extending stripping rolls on the main frame, a cutter supporting frame, pivotally mounted adjacent its upper end on the main frame, and extending downward and forward therefrom, a reciprocating cutter mounted upon the cutter supporting frame, fingers on the cutter supporting frame coacting with the cutter, a conveyor mounted on the cutter supporting frame and discharging on to said stripping rolls, a pair of husking rolls extending at right angles to the stripping rolls and disposed rearward of the stripping rolls and upon which the stripping rolls discharge, and a pair of snapping rolls disposed one above the other rearward of but adjacent the last roll of the husking rolls, means for driving the conveyor, reciprocating knife, the stripping rolls, the husking l rolls and the snapping rolls, and an elevator on which the husking rolls discharge.

5. In a harvester for short corn, a main wheeled frame, a plurality of pairs of longitudinally extending stripping rolls on the main frame, a cutter supporting frame, pivotally mounted adjacent its upper end on the main frame, and extending downward and forward therefrom, a' reciprocating cutter mounted upon the cutter supporting frame, fingers on the cutter supporting frame coacting with the cutter, a conveyor mounted on the cutter supporting frame and discharging on to said stripping rolls, a pair of husking rolls extending at right angles to the stripping rolls and disposed rearward of the stripping rolls and upon which the stripping rolls discharge, and a pair of snapping rolls disposed one above the other rearward of but adjacent the last roll of the husking rolls, means for driving the conveyor, reciprocating knife, the stripping rolls, the husk-V ing rolls, and the snapping rolls, an elevator on which the husking rolls discharge, a conveyor operatively supported upon the main frame below the stripping rolls and husking rolls, the elevator extending rearward beyond the snapping rolls and extending upward whereby the leaves, stalks and husks separated from the ears may be carried to a wagon. Y

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix m signature.

JACOB A. MILLER. 

